Why bragging will get you nowhere

你是社交網絡上的“大話王”嗎？

導讀：生活中，大話王（braggart）最討人嫌，可是不知不覺間，我們竟然開始用夸張的語言打造自己的網絡形象。在瘋狂吹噓的背后，其實是一種自我營銷的手段。

Nobody likes a braggart. They dominate conversations and only talk about themselves. They self-promote shamelessly in order to get ahead in their careers.

沒人喜歡大話王。他們喜歡侃侃而談，而且只愛自說自話。他們不知羞恥地自我吹捧，只為了在職場上搶先一步。

But according to a recent column in The Wall Street Journal, we might all be braggarts in this competitive society obsessed with social networking.

然而，《華爾街日報》最新的一篇專欄文章中提到，在競爭激烈的社會中，沉迷于社交網絡中的我們或許都會成為大話王。

Don't believe it? Take a close look at your social-networking sites. Do you like to post photos of yourself in restaurants and nightclubs to show others what an exciting life you have? Or if you are in a relationship, do you like to write about how happily in love you are? Or perhaps you are of the subtletype who constantly complain about their jobs but really just want to impress others with the important position they have.

不相信？可以好好看看你的那些社交網站。你喜歡上傳自己享受美食、混跡夜店的照片，只為大秀自己的快意人生嗎？熱戀中的你，愿意分享自己沐浴愛河的快樂嗎？也許你十分低調，只是像其他人那樣不斷抱怨工作罷了。但實際上，你這樣做只是為了顯示自己身居要職，給別人留下深刻印象罷了。

The Internet provides a global audience for boasting and social media sites encourage it, says Elizabeth Bernstein, a columnist with the Wall Street Journal. We are all expected to be perfect all the time. The result is that more and more people are carefully managing their online images.

《華爾街日報》的專欄記者伊麗莎白？伯恩斯坦表示，互聯網為我們吹牛提供了全球受眾，社交媒體網站則起到推波助瀾的作用。我們都希望自己時刻保持完美，結果就是，越來越多的人開始精心打造自己的網絡形象。

But the issue is not limited to the Internet. In a fiercely competitive job market we must sell ourselves on multiple platforms and demonstrate that we excel above all others.

但是，吹牛這個問題并非局限在互聯網上。在競爭激烈的職場中，我們必須在多個平臺上推銷自己，證明我們比其他人更優秀。

In fact, we have become so accustomed to boasting that we don't even realize we are doing it, says Bernstein. This is harmful to our relationships and puts people off.

伯恩斯坦表示，事實上，我們已經太習慣于自夸了，甚至連自己都沒有意識到。這對我們的人際關系可以說是有百害而無一利，令人反感。

So why do we keep at it?

那么，為何我們還要繼續大話連篇呢？

Bernstein talked to a few experts who said that people brag for all sorts of reasons: to appear worthy of attention or love, or to cover up our deepest insecurities; to prove to ourselves we are doing fine and that people who said we would fail are wrong; or simply because we're excited when good things happen to us.

伯恩斯坦與一些專家就此進行了討論，他們認為人們出于各種各樣的原因來炫耀：為了彰顯自己值得關注或被愛；為了掩蓋內心深處的不安全感；為了向自己證明，我們做得不錯，那些曾預言我們注定失敗的人是錯的；或是僅僅因為當好事降臨時，我們會興奮。

Talking about ourselves just feels great. According to the results of a series of experiments conducted by Harvard University neuroscientists, the reward areas of our brain–the same areas that respond to “primary rewards” such as food and sex–are activated when we talk about ourselves.

談論自己的感覺真是太美妙了。哈佛大學神經系統學家們做了一系列實驗，結果顯示，我們大腦的“獎勵區”──也就是對食物和性等“主要獎勵”做出反應的區域──在我們談論自己的時候會被激活。

We devote between 30 to 40 percent of our conversation time to doing just that, according to the study, which did not focus on boasting specifically but on sharing things about ourselves.

該研究表明，我們30%到40%的談話時間都花在自己身上了。該研究關注的并非自夸炫耀而是與他人分享自我。

Unfortunately, Bernstein says, some people cannot seem to tell the difference between sharing positive information that others might actually want to know and downright bragging. She suggests that bragging involves comparison, whether stated or implied. So you might want to refrain from discussing college courses with your former primary school classmate who failed to get into college.

伯恩斯坦指出，遺憾的是，有些人好像分不清分享其他人想知道的正面信息和大肆炫耀的區別。她認為，炫耀涉及到了與他人比較，有的直截了當，有的暗含其中。因此，在同沒能升入大學的小學同學交談時，你或許會可以避免觸及有關大學課程方面的話題。

So, how do you deal with an obnoxious braggart?

那么，如何對待一個令人生厭的大話精呢？

“Feel sorry for them, because they're doing this impulsive, destructive thing that won't help them in the long run,” Simine Vazire, a research psychologist and associate professor at Washington University, said according to the column. Research on self-enhancement shows that people who bragmake a good first impression, but the effect diminishes over time.

該文章還提到了華盛頓大學研究心理學家斯明？瓦茲副教授的原話：“我很為他們感到惋惜，因為從長遠來看，他們這種沖動有害的做法不會有好處。”對自我提升的研究表明，大話王給人的第一印象不錯，但隨著時間推移，這種好印象會漸漸消退。